More people living to 100 and beyond

At retirement communities across the country, dozens of residents are celebrating the century mark and beyond.What’s going on here? More people on the planet, more people living longer. Perhaps playing...

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By
JANET ROMAKER
Posted Oct. 21, 2013 @ 12:01 am

At retirement communities across the country, dozens of residents are celebrating the century mark and beyond.

What’s going on here?

More people on the planet, more people living longer. Perhaps playing a role: medical advances. A push for staying active, mind and body. Campaigns that promote consumption of fresh, rather than processed, foods.

The centenarian trend is expected to increase dramatically as baby boomers come of age, leading some people to wonder whether 100 will be the new 50.

Not only are people living longer, some continue to work at the age of 80, 90, or even 100.

The sheer number of baby boomers can help explain the trend of more people living longer, said Melanie Ayotte, administrative support with communications and government outreach for the Ohio Department of Aging. She said the department doesn’t track the number of centenarians within the state, but said the 2010 census showed Ohio had nearly 1,900 residents who were at least 100 years old.

From 1980 to 2010, the number of centenarians in the United States grew 66 percent, while the total population grew 36 percent, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. As of the 2010 census, more than 53,000 Americans were 100 or older. Based on estimates, by 2050, there will be more than 600,000 centenarians in America.

Supercentenarian status — for those living to 110 — is achieved by about one in 1,000 centenarians. Estimates put the number of supercentenarians in the world at a few hundred people out of more than seven billion people. There are only about 60 individual verified cases of living supercentenarians today.

Audrey Lott, born Oct. 18, 1903, celebrated her birthday this week, becoming a supercentenarian at the age of 110 on Friday.

Lott has a few years to go to earn accolades as the oldest person ever. Jeanne Louise Calment, who died in 1997, was a French supercentenarian who reportedly had the longest confirmed human lifespan in history, living to the age of 122 years.